Update on Covid Policies & Extracurricular Activities - St. James School

January 5, 2021

Dear Parents,

With the current surge in Covid-positive cases in our area and the CDC’s recently-updated guidance, we want to share another update regarding our policies here at Saint James School.

Quarantine Policy
At this time, we are maintaining the 10-day quarantine policy for any students and staff who are Covid-positive and for unvaccinated individuals who have been in close contact** with a Covid-positive individual. This policy has served us well as we strive to prevent in-school transmission of the virus.

We will reevaluate this policy when cases in our area begin to decline.

** Please note, close contact is defined as:
Outside of a school setting: 6 feet, or less, from an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period;
Inside a school setting: 3 feet, or less, from an infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.

Health Screenings
Parents should continue to do a daily health assessment of their child before they come to school to monitor for symptoms of illness (see below). If your child has any Covid symptoms, please keep them home and notify the school. We ask all families to continue to err on the side of caution during this time.

Signs and symptoms of Covid can include fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, fatigue, muscle aches, headache, loss of taste or smell, sore throat, nasal congestion or rhinorrhea, vomiting or diarrhea, and skin rashes. A full list can be viewed here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/clinical-care-quick-reference.html.

Contact Tracing
Based on guidance from the State Department of Education, Saint James School is discontinuing the contact tracing portion of our protocol effective immediately. The guidance from the state, and our subsequent adoption of this change, is based on the fact that even in times of high community transmission, classroom mitigation strategies have successfully prevented in-school spread. In addition, the state is encouraging schools to move their health staff away from the investigation of relatively low risk in-school exposures and toward the identification, early isolation, and clinical management of student cases.

Extracurricular Activities
At this time all school-sponsored extracurricular activities, including basketball practice and games, will be suspended through January 14th. We will reevaluate next week and will communicate the update via email.

Thank you again for your patience and support as we navigate what is hopefully a short-lived increase of Covid cases in our area.

Sincerely,

Bridget Zorger
Principal